After Laura and Clare are abandoned by their mother, Felix is there to help, even to marry Laura if she will have him. Little by little the sisters grow complicit with his obsessions, his cruelty, his need to control. A novel of relentless and acute psychological power, from one of Australia's greatest writers.

The watch tower

Harrower, Elizabeth

Literature & Fiction

Sirius

Long Prospect

Imprint / Angus & Robertson

After Laura and Clare are abandoned by their mother, Felix is there to help, even to marry Laura if she will have him. Little by little the sisters grow complicit with his obsessions, his cruelty, his need to control. A novel of relentless and acute psychological power, from one of Australia's greatest writers.

The Watch Tower

Literary

Text Classics

Neglected twelve-year-old Emily befriends Max, a middle-aged scientist who encourages her to pursue her intellectual interests. But this innocent friendship will expose both to scandal, suburban snobbery, and psychological torment.
Sharply observed, bitter and humorous, this is a powerful novel about a loved-starved child—and about trial by mob.

The Long Prospect (Text Classics)

From the author of The Watch Tower—hailed as "a brilliant achievement" by the Washington Post—a debut novel about a troubled and obsessive marriage, set against the backdrop of postwar Sydney.
First published in 1957, Down in the City announced Elizabeth Harrower as a major Australian writer.

Down in the City

A young Sydney woman moves to London to study law. She soon becomes involved with an attractive but shady aspiring actor who will turn her small world upside down. First published in 1960, this is Harrower's only novel set outside Australia. It has never before been available in the United States.

The Catherine Wheel (Text Classics)

Harrower was right about In Certain Circles being well written, but surely wrong to take its superb style for granted, as if mere literary muscle memoryThe book belongs with her best work, with The Watch Tower and The Long Prospect[It] is more explicit than Harrower’s earlier work about ideological tensions between men and women. It is also broader in scope and not as angrywiser and less hopeless.’ James Wood, New Yorker Like a treasure from an unearthed time capsuleHarrower is one of the great Australian writers of the postwar era...Harrower's fearsome objectivity and her bristling, beautiful prose come from modernist masters like Katherine Mansfield and Elizabeth BowenZoe's struggle, her suffering, her hard-earned knowledge are sharp and alive. You feel the book must have been written last week rather than last century.’ Wall St Journal 'With its flavor of Henry James, Harrower's rediscovered story is an odd, brittle yet impressive piece of work that exposes the complex passions beneath a drawing-room-scenario surface.'Kirkus Reviews Harrower’s prose is watchful, witty, unillusioned, exultant. Its healthful vitality vivid, accurate, alive to irony is a dashing stand against its subject matter: human perversity, so often squalid, senseless, swallowing all meaning. The reader marvels at its balance, its sinuousness, as each fresh wave hits.There is a note of elegy in all of Harrower’s work, even as the adrenaline flows, and a lyricism reminiscent of F.Scott Fitzgerald at his desperate best.’ Times Literary Supplement In Certain Circles is the novel Elizabeth Harrower wrote after the release of The Watch Tower. The author withdrew this novel before publication in 1971, and it has languished in a library for four decades.
In Certain Circles is an intense psychological drama about family and love, tyranny, and freedom. Set amid the lush gardens and grand stone houses that line the north side of Sydney Harbour, it follows the lives of four unforgettable characters whose fates are intertwined.
Harrower is one of Australia's most important postwar writers. Never before published, In Certain Circles is one of the most anticipated releases of the season. Text's Classic edition of The Watch Tower has been reviewed in literary pages across the globe.
Elizabeth Harrower was born in Sydney in 1928. Her first novel, Down in the City, was published in 1957 and was followed by The Long Prospect (1958) and The Catherine Wheel (1960). Harrower published The Watch Tower in 1966. Four years later she finished In Certain Circles, but withdrew it before publication for reasons she has never publicly spoken of.

In Certain Circles

Text Publishing Company

"Magnificently sad and funny...the best skewering of life between the sexes since Mary McCarthy’s The Group."Boston Globe ('Best Books of 2015')"Watchful, witty, unillusioned, exultantThere is a note of elegy in all of Harrower’s work, even as the adrenaline flows, and a lyricism reminiscent of F.Scott Fitzgerald at his desperate best."Times Literary Supplement "Like a treasure from an unearthed time capsule."The Wall Street Journal "I can't recommend this brilliant, austere writer strongly enough . . . Harrower is funny and elegant and devastating."James Wood, The New Yorker "Subtle yet wounding, and very much alive."The Guardian "Harrower evokes the waste and futility of a decadent class with all the bite and poignancy of F. Scott Fitzgerald."Eimear McBride, New Statesman "Harrower can pierce your heart."Michael Dirda, The Washington Post Zoe Howard is seventeen when her brother, Russell, introduces her to Stephen Quayle. Aloof and harsh, Stephen is unlike anyone she has ever met. His sister, Anna, is shy and thoughtful. Zoe and Russell, Stephen and Anna: they come from different social worlds but the four of them will spend their lives moving in and out of each other's shadow. Set amid the lush gardens and grand stone houses of Sydney Harbour, In Certain Circles is an intense psychological drama about family and love, tyranny and freedom.  Elizabeth Harrower published only four novels in her short but brilliant career. This fifth novel was completed in 1971, but withdrawn from publication at the last minute. The manuscript languished in the National Library of Australia archives for forty years before Michael Heyward of Text Publishing was allowed to read it. He knew immediately that it must be published. In Certain Circles has been lauded internationally, and its publication coincides with a massive resurgence of interest in Harrower's work.

The short story, with its tight formal constraints, proves to be a fruitful medium for Harrower's Gothic sensibilities. At the same time, she uses the short form to offer her imprisoned characters a glimpse of freedomeven if the cynical reader will recognize that the promise of escape is ironicArtful short-form fiction best for Harrower's dedicated fans.’Kirkus I can’t recommend this brilliant, austere writer strongly enough...Harrower is funny and elegant and devastating.’James Wood, New YorkerWide-ranging in mood and style, this is a virtuoso but warm-hearted display of the genre.’The Lady [UK] These are wise and serious stories about deep feelings. Harrower is one of those writers you can't believe you've missed but what a joy to discover her.’Daily Mail [UK] Watchful, witty, unillusioned, exultant...There’s a note of elegy in all of Harrower's work, even as the adrenaline flows, and a lyricism reminiscent of F. Scott Fitzgerald at his desperate best.’Times Literary Supplement
Harrower can pierce your heart.’Michael Dirda, the Washington Post
 Utterly hypnotic.’Eimear McBride, author of A Girl is a Half-formed Thing
Like a treasure from an unearthed time capsule....Harrower’s fearsome objectivity and her bristling, beautiful prose come from modernist masters like Katherine Mansfield and Elizabeth Bowen.’The Wall Street Journal
Internationally acclaimed for her five brilliant novels, Elizabeth Harrower also wrote a number of extraordinary short stories. Some have been previously published, but others are released here for the first time.
A Few Days in the Country is a stellar collection, which underlines Harrower's standing as one of the great post-war Australian writers.
Elizabeth Harrower is the author of Down in the City, The Long Prospect, The Catherine Wheel, and The Watch Towerall republished as Text Classicsand In Certain Circles, which was published in 2014 and in early 2015 was a BBC Radio 4 Book at Bedtime.

A Few Days in the Country: And Other Stories

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Harrower, Elizabeth. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Harrower, Elizabeth

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Harrower, Elizabeth. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The watch tower

Long Prospect

The Watch Tower

The Long Prospect (Text Classics)

Down in the City

The Catherine Wheel (Text Classics)

In Certain Circles

In Certain Circles

A Few Days in the Country: And Other Stories